I was wondering about this as I pondered the origin of another Op Shop doll. Of course there will be collectible dolls. The sort that is produced for collectors especially, the Franklin Mint, the Reborns and many other dolls of all types. But what about play dolls? Will anyone collect those? What play dolls of today will be the beloved collectible of fifty years into the future?
Collectible play dolls of the past.
Most of our dolls excluding the modern fashion dolls, we keep because they were childhood dolls or replacements for childhood dolls or perhaps dolls we would like to have had. Other old dolls we bought because we liked their faces or they are interesting for some other reason. They were all dolls that were made to be played with.
So I wonder if children who are playing with the modern versions of Baby Born, Baby Alive, Bratz and so on will collect them in later life? It’s possible I guess but what about all those mass-produced, unmarked dolls that are produced by the container load in China, sold in chain stores and after a short play life abandoned at Op Shops or in the rubbish? Will anyone collect them or research where they came from and write about them?
What do you think?
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
It depends on how much they have been loved during the childhood of the future collectors. I think that personal emotion is what makes a doll collectible. So those who will remember these dolls fondly will probably collect them.
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I agree with you. Emotion and not value should drive a collection.
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something can be said if the doll is passed down a generation, if there is a personal story. I like celebrity dolls or ones with history. Favorite movies and t.v. shows, athletes ,etc.The movie Toy story was a reminder of where some toys are treasured some are not. My daughters Spice girls and N’Sync dolls gather dust in what used to be her closet. Disney dolls have had a good run, but are now so often over mass produced I see them glut the garage sales/swap meets and thrift stores. I recently got knock off Ken clothes from China that are nearly identical, sans the tags or price.. And E-bay allows me to practically re-live my childhood. But of all my loved items those most loved are the rag dolls my sisters made and the porcelain one my dearly departed sister made that is truly One of a kind! I guess emotion weighs greatly in my personal devotion to certain dolls. I have had to re-sew certain well loved rag dolls, maybe wear and tear may eventually take them from me.I love seeing and hearing about others favorites! Thanks for this topic in your blog!!
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One of the reasons I wonder is that I think that toys have a shorter playing life now. Only the youngest children are given dolls to play with and by the time they are ten they are like the teenagers of my day. I played with dolls well into my teens and I didn’t stop because I lost interest so much as because peer pressure said that I was “too old for dolls”. I still preferred dolls to boys at fifteen.
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